Friday, November 07, 2008

Many moons ago, I saw a recipe for buttermilk cookies on Ezra Pound Cake. Rebecca made them look and sound like an amazing summer treat, and I added them to my ever-increasing To Bake list. A month or two later, I finally got around to making them. A few months after that, I'm finally getting around to posting about them. This says nothing about the quality of the cookies, and everything about my procrastination abilities. So you'll have to excuse these cookies if they don't quite fit the current pumpkin-and-cranberry baking season. They have traveled a long, long way to get here, and I promise that they're worth baking, regardless of the season.

Apparently buttermilk cookies are a Southern classic, but since my Southern living experience is limited to Southern California, I had never heard of buttermilk cookies before this summer. This was entirely my loss, because they're exactly the kind of cookie I like. Soft and cakey, they develop deliciously crisp edges and a nice upper crust, while staying very moist and soft in the center. They have a delicate citrus flavor and are frosted with a sweet-and-tangy icing that makes them madly addicting.

Buttermilk CookiesAdapted from Gourmet, January 2008

Makes about 5 1/2 dozen cookies [I made a half batch and it still made a ton]

For Cookies:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk

For Glaze:

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

3 tablespoons well-shaken buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two large baking sheets.

Whisk together flour, zest, baking soda, and salt.

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an eletric mixer until pale and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Mix in flour mixture and buttermilk alternately in batches at low speed, beginning and ending with flour mixture, until smooth.

Drop level tablepoons of dough about 1 1/2 inches apart onto baking sheets. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until cookies are puffed and edges are golden, 12 to 15 minutes per batch. Cool cookies on sheets 1 minute, then transfer cookies to racks.

To glaze the cookies: Whisk together all glaze ingredients and brush onto tops of warm cookies.